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[reriel]

who have played Tales of Symphonia and Star Ocean 3 ? I waiting this two games, but i wonder, what's better in gameplay, story, character development, graphic and music ? tos or so3 ?

 

[dark10x]

Well, music is an easy one. Star Ocean 3 has a vastly superior soundtrack...

Same composer, obviously...but as with other TriAce titles scored by Sakuraba, this one stands above his other (non-TriAce) works.

I think I'll probably enjoy SO3 more, but they both seem excellent.

 

[Doom_Bringer]

whats the release date for SO3?

 

[SolidSnakex]

August 24th is the date right now.

And as dark said, the music definetly goes to SO3. For some reason Tales has always been Sakuraba's weakest games.

 

[Suikoguy]

I'm buying both, but want SO3 more

 

[Shouta]

I enjoyed Star Ocean 3 more.

 

[dog$]

I got SO3 for my birthday, January this year. I have yet to finish the game, and I'm the same person that put 300+ hours into SO2 on a handful of replays.

Hopefully I'll get back to it someday. But for now I'd give the decision to ToS by default.

 

[reriel]

any impression by Bepbo or Kitsune ?

 

[Subitai]

Both?

They both look great to me.

 

[Shouta]

Man, I remember when Brandon F and I were the big impressions people. I feel old now.

 

[jarrod]

Phantasia < SO1
Eternia > SO2

...I'm not sure about SO3 vs Symphonia though, especially as we're getting the Director's Cut. I agree with the consenus that SO3 has the better soundtrack but I'd also say Symphonia looks better from the media available. We'll see, but bottom line they'll both be among the top 5 RPGs available this year (with Paper Mario 2, Nocturne and maybe Digital Devil Saga or MegaMan XCM rounding out the rest).

 

[ravingloon]

I was actually quite impressed by TOS voice acting (Being in the minority I guess). When X-Play had a preview of Star Ocean 3 the other day, however, the voice acting was ghastly. I sincerely hope they took the most stilted dialogue just to make fun of it, because it sucked big time.

 

[Shouta]

Visually? SO3 whomps on ToS all over the place.

And the English VAing for both ToS and SO3 are terrrrible.

 

[Gattsu25]

good VA would break the tradition, for SO

 

[LittleTokyo]

The most prominent memory of SO2 I have is some lame ass voice actor saying "Energy Arrow" everytime the computer AI did the spell (which was constantly).

 

[Gattsu25]

the best was “It's … The Enemy!”

 

[Shouta]

No no, Dias Flace saying "10 seconds."

Whoever recorded the voice acting needed to be shot. The general tone and style of the people they chose for the characters wasn't so bad though.

 

[SolidSnakex]

Square is pretty good at getting decent voice acting for games so SO3 shouldn't be too terrible. Atleast not on SO2 level.

 

[jarrod]

Visually? SO3 whomps on ToS all over the place.

Well, I've yet to play either, I'm just going off net media. I like the cellshading on Symphonia's models more than SO3s and some of Symphonia's environments look really spectacular. Maybe SO3 will surprise me though...

 

[LittleTokyo]

Well, I've yet to play either, I'm just going off net media. I like the cellshading on Symphonia's models more than SO3s and some of Symphonia's environments look really spectacular. Maybe SO3 will surprise me though...

From what I've seen of SO3, I thought the fighting and spell effects looked great. I think they both look pretty well above the norm for console RPGs though.

 

[dark10x]

Not really important to most people, but is ToS 60 fps? I know Star Ocean 3 runs at 60 fps, but I'm not so sure about ToS (though it seems as if it will).

 

[Shouta]

SO3 absolutely floored me when I first saw it at the Enix USA offices a few years ago. It still floors me how good it looks. My only real complaint with the graphics is that the player models could use a bit of refining and that much larger scale enviroments be used (although that would compromise the graphic quality). I think I mentioned the modeling thing in my old impressions when the game first came out.

 

[SolidSnakex]

SO3's battle system looks awesome.

Kinda seems like a juiced up version of Grandia battle system, both graphically and gameplay wise. Plus I don't think it cuts to FMV's for it's spells (although I could be wrong).

 

[Brandon F]

Definately snagging both of these. Haven't played too much of SO3, but the game really shocked me with it's 480p Widescreen visual flair. It's really freaking gorgeous and I've only seen the first few areas!

Just to make certain, We ARE getting the director's cut of SO3 correct?

 

[Sagitario]

What's the release date for Symphonia? July 7?

 

[maskrider]

SO3 is very good graphically, it supports 16:9 and progressive scan output. The music is great and the game play is very smooth. I like Nel the most.

TOS is another style, looks more old school (looks very similar to TOD2).

 

[ferricide]

they are both very gorgeous games. TOS has a more distinctive look. i have not seen as much of SO3 yet, however, whereas i've beaten TOS. certainly the realistically proportioned characters are more affecting, and the mocapped cinemas play out more interestingly compared to TOS' hand-animated stuff. also, SO3's story is (thus far) interesting, TOS' is not terribly.

the voice acting in both is solid B-grade. SO3 seems to have been done by the same studio that did xenosaga, as i've heard MOMO and shion thus far anyway. it's around the same quality level. infer from that what you will.

TOS' acting is good (especially kratos) but slightly stilted due to presentation (text boxes breaking up, low-action cutscenes, etc.) i think people are overly critical of english voice acting in RPGs, not that i wouldn't prefer to see some higher quality. TOS' story wouldn't be any more interesting if they had sprung for oscar-winners in every role, though, so i don't really see the point there either.

gameplay i can't compare yet, as i am not far enough into SO3 to judge it.

Just to make certain, We ARE getting the director's cut of SO3 correct?

yep.

 

[kiryogi]

Hmm, I'm curious. I thought I heard you mention getting the english version of ToS early ferricide, is that the case?

 

[Bebpo]

Seriously I see it as no comparison

ToS beats the living hell out of SO3 in basically every category (except maybe music)

SO3 has terrible party AI
ToS has really fantastic customizable AI

SO3 has slow repetitive battle system (sit in corner with ninja girl and hold O for 5 mins ^^;; )
ToS has really fun exciting battle system where you're always trying to set up nice combos

SO3 has a story that tries to be something hip and cool, but ends up dragging and just being utterly ridiculous to the point where between the characters and the story it may just be the worst plot I've experienced in a rpg
ToS has a standard but very enjoyable story that is executed well and keeps the game interesting

SO3 has possibly the most dull cast ever in a rpg
ToS has about 4 great characters, 4 ok characters. But the good ones in your party are really enjoyable.

ToS has great dungeon length and good fast puzzles
SO3 has long 1 hour+ dungeons with some really stupid puzzles

ToS has fantastic detailed 60fps graphics which look fantastic in both cutscenes and battle
SO3 has good non-detailed 60fps graphics which look fantastic in battle but not so hot in cutscenes

Both are around the same length (45-55 hours main game, 10-20+ hours sidequests)

Really it just comes down to ToS looks better than SO3, ToS has a more enjoyable and interesting battle system, and ToS has story and characters 100x greater than those found in SO3.

From my pile of rpgs I pegged:
SO3 8.5
ToS 9.6

All IMHO though and I know shouta will fight me like always about SO3 ^^;;

 

[Buggy Loop]

Im anticipating both of them very much, anticipating a better battle and story experience with ToS while SO3 giving me my futuristic anime style RPG with space travel and gorgeous art.

SMT3 > both of them though, most stylish RPG ever..

 

[duckroll]

There's definitely no comparison. For those who say SO3 is superior: Did you actually play the game at all or are you just going by screenshots?

SO3 has:

- Terrible cutscenes
- Boring as hell writing
- Dumbed down gameplay from SO2
- Item Creation is just one streamlined less-interactive exercise now
- Battle system is stunted and feels retarded and badly programmed
- Difficulty is MUCH easier
- Game is buggy (yes i played the original, not some retarded DC)
- No more voice collections
- Really bland world design
- Great dungeon designs
- Rather decent enemy designs
- Really really lame ending
- Good music

ToS has:

- Great characters
- Good cutscenes
- Great writing, especially in the skits
- A superior battle system to the previous Tales
- Tons and tons of extra optional FUN stuff
- Rather easy game, but there are some kickass optional bosses
- 1000++ voice skits which are funny as hell
- GREAT world design
- Nice dungeon designs, smaller than SO3 but more fun and you don't get lost
- AWESOME enemy designs
- Great ending
- Good music

 

[SolidSnakex]

Im anticipating both of them very much, anticipating a better battle and story experience with ToS while SO3 giving me my futuristic anime style RPG with space travel and gorgeous art.

SMT3 > both of them though, most stylish RPG ever..

This man speaks the truth...Just throw in DDS too. Covering the modern and futuristic looking RPG's.

Now we just have to hope DDS turns out as well as Bebpo and others say SMT3 did.

 

[Semjaza Azazel]

Despite the obvious similarities, DDS wipes the floor with SMT from what I've seen. The environments are so large and have so many details. They both look amazing to me, but DDS has the edge. They're my most wanted games for the rest of the year.

That said, I am getting both Symphonia and SO3. They'll both rock, I'm sure. 2004 is going to be an amazing year for RPGs.

 

[Shouta]

I know Bebpo (same with duckroll) and I are gonna argue which is why I haven't posted a giant comparison post ;p.

 

[Mashing]

Can you guys please not derail the thread with your SMT3 and DDS talk (I'm looking foward to both incidentally)...

I'm looking forward to ToS more than SO3... I haven't kept up with tha later game at all, but I usually buy all decent RPGs anyway, so I'll be purchasing eventually. ToS is an absolutely must buy though. I can't wait for that one.

 

[ferricide]

- Terrible cutscenes

don't think that's the case at all, here. neither game has terrible cutscenes, and SO3's are much more visually interesting because they're mocapped, and have realistically proportioned characters (this is just my opinion on the last point, obviously.)

- Game is buggy (yes i played the original, not some retarded DC)

not relevant to gamers aiming to play the US version.

- A superior battle system to the previous Tales

yep, definitely. it rules. it's so much fun.

- GREAT world design
- Nice dungeon designs, smaller than SO3 but more fun and you don't get lost
- AWESOME enemy designs

yep, yep, yep.

- Great ending

didn't care about the story anymore at that point.

- Good music

SO3 has the edge in this category by a reasonably wide margin, i'd say.

 

[Drinky Crow]

The Tales game have always had excrucuatingly adequate stories, if you catch my meaning. That said, the amount of anime cliches per minute the developers manage to pack into the average Tales title still astounds me.

Not that I expect SO3's story to be much better, but whatever. NEGATIVITY RULES!

 

[Shouta]

Really don't expect the story for SO3 to blow you away (or even give you a good handshake) but it does have some nice points and it does try to avoid blatantly throwing anime cliches in your face and despite the terrible handling of the major plot-twist, I did enjoy the story overall (although I WANT MORE SCI-FI DAMMIT!).

 

[Bebpo]

don't think that's the case at all, here. neither game has terrible cutscenes, and SO3's are much more visually interesting because they're mocapped, and have realistically proportioned characters (this is just my opinion on the last point, obviously.)

Well the main problem that both Duckroll and I have with SO3 cutscenes does not pertain to any of the stuff that you've mentioned...it's the frequency and length. SO3 has some long cutscenes. IMHO there is one that is equal or greater than the 40 min or so XS ep1 cutscene, yet it tries to hide that it's 1 long non-playable section by giving you control of a character even though you can't do anything other than wait for the rest of the cutscene to play out (you'll know it when you get there, it has to do with Maria and it has a ship). I don't really care if a game has a not so hot plot as long as it's incidental. SO3 pushes the plot in your face with long cutscene after long cutscene as if it were trying to tell some great epic story...yet IMHO the content is just not there so I'd find the cutscenes boring

OTOH Tales cutscenes were pretty much like most cutscenes since the 16 bit days, a few minutes max. Tales didn't feel like it was preaching because it knew it's story just didn't have the meat to do that, which I think really let me enjoy the cutscenes in ToS.

 

[maskrider]

I haven't played the previous SO before, I have played through SO3 DC (I bought the first buggy version and sold it when I knew there will be SO3 DC) twice, I think the story is pretty interesting to me. Installing to HDD shortened the load time between scenes.

I had only started ToS and played a while, but the style is very different, I feel like playing TOD2 from my very short play time with it. Haven't played it much then since I was occupied by some other things.

16:9

4:3

16:9

4:3

FMV Model

Real time cut-scene

Others are here if you are interested
http://felixmcli.org/extlinks/so3dc/

 

[belgurdo]

Looks like a generic anime girl from an early Sega Saturn game CG movie

 

[Shouta]

I was kind of dissapointed that the FMV models were the exact same as the in-game models. =|

 

[maskrider]

I was kind of dissapointed that the FMV models were the exact same as the in-game models. =|

Well, they do look a bit smoother, ha ha ! The animation in the real-time cut scenes is just average, a little better than the shaking robots of FF X.

I think the overall look of the game is rather good.

Here is a video of me running around the places, around 1 minute, no battle, just running through 2 plains and a town.

http://felixmcli.org/video/so3dc-sw.wmv About 5.6MBytes

And BTW, all the camera view change are manual (L1/R1 to rotate the view), will interfere with the direction when the view is changing.

 

[Mejilan]

I'll be getting both SO3 and ToS when they hit the US, but I'm a bit disappointed we won't be getting the ToS+ add ons in our release.

That said, I'm looking forward to ToS moreso than SO3, and not just because it's supposed to arrive first.

Incidently, does anyone have release dates for both titles?

 

[maskrider]

TOS Title screen animation

http://felixmcli.org/video/tos-title.wmv about 2.5MB

TOS Level start with 1 battle

http://felixmcli.org/video/tos-start.wmv about 2.8MB

 

[Suikoguy]

Is the the first Widescreen RPG?

 

[Korranator]

I couldn't stand SO2, and if SO3 is dumbed down version count me out. I'll be picking up TOS, the battle system, and extras sounds like they seriously rock.

 

[DIrtyWeasel]

Both are probably my most wanted RPG's.
I hard to choose, but i'll say Tales of Symphonia.

 

[maskrider]

Is the the first Widescreen RPG?

SO3 is the first Japanese RPG that supports both 16:9 and progressive scan output.

 

[Neutron Night]

I'm anticipating SO3 much more.